Inkjet Cartridge 101

Inkjet printers use printer cartridges which contain the ink and sometimes the print head itself. You can choose from a new inkjet printer cartridge from the company who made your printer or a discount refilled printer cartridge. Printers used to be very expensive and ink used to be cheap, but now it tends to be the other way around. You might buy a printer for $78 but then find out the ink cartridges retail at $30 each, so perhaps the printer was not such a bargain after all.

When to Buy a New Inkjet Cartridge

An inkjet printer cartridge varies in price, depending on the manufacturer, whether you want a single color or all in one printer cartridges. New printers usually come with ink, so you do not have to buy a new inkjet printer cartridge until the old one is empty.

Do Inkjet Cartridge Refills Work?

Used ink cartridges can often, depending on the manufacturer, be refilled and reused. If you are looking for a cheap ink cartridge, this could be the right solution for you. Some inkjet printer manufacturers, however, try to make it difficult to refill cartridges. Some cartridge brands contain a chip that registers the maximum printable amount. After that amount is reached, it will not work. Other cartridges are sealed in such a way that they are impossible to open without breaking the seal. Some brands of ink cartridges do not have these restrictions and are quite simple to refill.

If a refill is not done correctly, it could link and cause problems with your printer, which is why you should always use a reputable company to do your inkjet refills.

What are Discount Inkjet Cartridges?

You might have seen generic brands of ink on offer, as well as the manufacturer’s ink. These are often half the price of the manufacturer’s ink. Discount ink can work as well as the brand name ink but you buy it from a reputable company who offers a guarantee. You can find both inkjet cartridge refills and discount ink cartridges online.
The Differences Between Printer Brands

Epson, Hewlett Packard and Canon are probably the three biggest inkjet printer manufacturers, followed by Brother and Lexmark. Hewlett Packard inkjet cartridges are notoriously expensive because they have the print head built into the actual cartridge. This is a good idea because you get a fresh print head every time you change the cartridge, rather than one built into the printer which wears down over time, but it does add to the cost of each inkjet printer cartridge.

Canon cartridges work out a little cheaper because if you run out of blue ink, you do not have to replace your all in one color cartridge because Canon uses a different cartridge for each color, meaning you replace the blue cartridge only and can carry on using the rest of each color. A lot of Epson printers have begun using separate cartridges and Hewlett Packard offer this feature on some of their newer printers. This can save you money over time.

Some Epson printers use different shades of colors and even a glossy finishing ink. Because of these options, it can be more difficult to find inkjet printer refills or discount generic ink for Epson printer models.